On The Ethical Relationship In Rebecca

Daphne du Maurier, a British romantic suspense writer, creates seventeen novels and dozens of other genres literary works. For she is a female writer, Daphne pays more attention to women's fate. Most of the protagonists in her works are women and she devotes to describing women's fate and ethical selections in 20 th century. Rebecca,Daphne's most famous work, published in 1938. And it has been translated into about twenty kinds of languages and has been adapted into drama, TV and films. In this work, Daphne leads readers to appreciate the ethical scenery of England in 20 th century with her superb narrative skills.Daphne adopts flashback technique to narrate the love story between the narrator and Maxim. The novel Rebecca pay attention to social reality, human's inner world and the ethical relationship between human and others and nature. Through Rebecca,readers can feel the author's ethical tendencies and ethical pursuits.This paper is on the theoretical basis of ethical literary criticism to analyze the ethical ideas in Rebecca and to reveal the author's ethical tendencies and ethical pursuits.This paper consists of six chapters.Chapter one introduces the author Daphne du Maurier and her work Rebecca.Otherwise, to summarize the domestic and abroad researches on Rebecca, and the research theory of this paper: ethical literary criticism.Chapter two mainly discusses the relationship between human and society and reveals the author's ethical pursuit for equality. On the one hand, as a victim of patriarchal society, “I” is despised by this society at first, but through hard work of “I”,“I” finally finds her own identity and receives respect. On the other hand, as a new female image in this novel, the protagonist Rebecca oppresses the traditional ethical ideas and pursuits for freedom and equal rights in all her life.Chapters three analyzes the relationship between human and others and reveal the author's ethical pursuit for loyalty. Though the descriptions of the two marriages of Maxim and “I”, and Maxim and Rebecca, it expresses that a disloyal marriage must be broken up, instead, a loyal marriage will have a better future. On the other hand,through the descriptions of the friendships between Maxim and Frank, Rebecca and Mrs. Danvers, it states that only sincere friendships can realize harmony betweenhuman and others.Chapter four interprets the relationship between human and oneself and to present the author's ethical pursuit for inner beauty. The narrator lost herself in patriarchal society for many factors, however, she finally finds her social identity and realizes self-redemption; however, the other protagonist Rebecca tries to realize herself only through some extreme and crazy ways to challenge the traditional social morals, so she finally fails and died under the hand of man.Chapter five probes to the relationship between human and nature and reveals du Maurier's ethical pursuit for harmony. On the one hand, the man has a strong desire to dominant nature in patriarchal society. But this dominance disappears when Manderley becomes ash. In addition, there are lots of descriptions to natural scenery,Female and nature are integrated.Chapter six makes a conclusion. In Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier vividly depicts different ethical selections of two heroines, and their absolutely different fates in patriarchal society. It reveals the harm given to female by traditional social system.Besides, the deal descriptions to the heroin Rebecca reflect Daphne du Maurie's attention to female's life and their psychology and express her proposition of female liberation. In addition, through the descriptions to the relationships between human and society, others, oneself and nature, Daphne du Maurier expresses her ethical pursuits of sincerity, goodness, inner beauty and the harmony between human and nature.